On Your Own
by melpamene
Summary: The crew of the Logos must enter the Matrix and thwart a plan to kill the One, at all costs. Takes place prior to and during The Matrix. I do not own the Matrix characters, I just write about them. The Matrix and everything related to it belong to the W.
1. A Disturbing Message

The lines of continous green code slid in smooth, vertical motions down the multitude of flat screens. A tall male, with slightly unruly, dark brown hair and large blue eyes let out a disgruntled 'hrmph' as he watched the code stream before him.  
  
The faintest bit of a grin creeped onto Spark's angular face. He adjusted the microphone-earpiece and leaned forward in his chair, as if watching something extremely entertaining admist the streaming lines of code.  
  
"She's kicking your sorry ass, Ghost." Spark jeered into the microphone, knowing he couldn't hear him. He kept his eyes on a smaller screen that showed a set of vital signs, vital signs attached to an Asian male laying in a chair just behind Sparks.  
  
--  
  
The pair stared eachother down, standing across from eachother on a large, blue mat inside what appeared to be a gymansium. The sparring program was designed by Sparks and tweeked to perfection by Niobe and Ghost.  
  
A built asian male, his jaw set and his dark eyes cold, took a defensive stance on the far right mat edge. Ghost was feeling it in his muscles but he wasn't about to admit that to his opponent, Niobe. Ghost didn't say much anyways, and when he did, it was pointed.  
  
Niobe, her brown eyes just as cold, crouched down slightly as she prepared to take Ghost on again. She enjoyed their sparring matches. It kept her alert, fresh and non-rusty. Niobe knew she did the same for Ghost.  
  
"I'm not going down this time." Ghost said in a baritone voice that didn't suit his features. Niobe simply raised an eyebrow, and motioned with an outstretched hand, seeming to almost mock Ghost.  
  
"Bring it." Niobe stated simply, tone deep and pointed. There was the briefest of pauses, before both Niobe and Ghost launched into the air to meet in a clash of fists..  
  
--  
  
Spark continued to watch the fight within the code with growing interest. Ever now and then he'd cringe or clap at a move made. He was afraid he'd have to unplug them if things got any more rowdy.  
  
He was so enthralled in the sparring match, he nearly didn't hear the faint beeping on a console just off to his left. He raised an eyebrow, eyes gazing over at a blinking red light. He moved over on his chair, his hand moving in a flury of motion as he tried to decipher what the alert was for.  
  
"Transmission, eh..hmm.badly degraded.." Spark murmured to himself, concentrating on his keystrokes. "Boy, this has traveled a bit.I wonder if I can reconstruct it."  
  
There was another few moments of key striking, before he smiled in achievement. "Bingo! Sparks, you are the man!"  
  
Sparks hit the playback, and a static filled message began to play through the dark room.  
  
".un--..attack.loss of eng--e co--.send.re-orcements...-eapt, this is the Tri--.multiple injur--.SOS."  
  
Sparks face became devoid of colour as the distress call echoed in the metal walls. Through the static, he heard a loud crash, the sound of someone screaming, and then silence before the transmission cut out. Spark paused before grabbing his earpiece, trying to gain some composure, and make sense of what he just heard.  
  
"Niobe, Ghost, problem! I'm pulling you out" Sparks nearly yelled into the mouth piece, trying to trace the message to it's source. He knew for a fact the Logos was the only vessel in this sector.  
  
Which left any rescue mission to them. 


	2. Call to Help

On Your Own  
  
Chapter 2: Message of Urgency  
  
Disclaimer: I have no relations to the Matrix production team, the owners or the actors. I'm just a fan who eats up spare time by writing.  
  
--  
  
It took a moment for Niobe to clear her vision, blinking her deep brown eyes as she felt the familiar sensation in the back of her neck as the probe was removed from the input terminal in her spine. She sat up slowly in her chair, gripping the sides as she turned herself to face Sparks. Ghost sat on the edge of his own chair, rubbing the back of his neck absently.  
  
"What's the problem?" Niobe asked Sparks, her tone serious and pointed. Ghost directed his attention to Sparks as well, asking the same question with his narrow eyes. Both of them looked aggravated at being pulled out of the Construct on such short notice.  
  
"Just hear this." Sparks said quickly.  
  
Sparks spared no time, and hit the play-back button on his terminal. The same, horribly distorted message played through the small room. Niobe's eyes and expression became more stone like as she listened, Sparks looked agitated, and Ghost remained stoic.  
  
"That was Miren." Niobe spoke with a cool yet concerned tone, recognizing the voice, "Captain of the Prometheus. Sparks, can you clear up some of the distortion and static?"  
  
Sparks nodded, "Already did. The signal was weak as it is. We're lucky our communication relay picked it up at all. I've weaved all the techy magic I can on this...it sounds like they were under attack."  
  
Niobe got off the chair, her arms hugging her small frame, the sleeves of her ragid burgundy sweater covering her small hands. She was pacing a little, brows set in a look of deep thought, eyes gazing at a random point as if she was off in her own world. Ghost leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knee's, studying Niobe.  
  
"What's our move?" Ghost said in his low voice, looking directly at Niobe. She turned her head, the features of her chocolate-coloured face rigid, and made eye contact with Ghost. A few long moments passed before Sparks looked anxiously between the two of them, putting both his hands up.  
  
"Whoa whoa WHOA." Sparks exclaimed, stepping forward to stand inbetween Niobe and Ghost, "If you two are even thinking of--"  
  
"We're going to help." Niobe interjected before Sparks could finish his sentence. Sparks let out a low groan of disapproval and shook his head.  
  
"We have no clue what happened, who attacked, what attacked...we're going in blind!" Sparks said, looking nervously between the calm and quiet Ghost and Niobe. "And going in blind is bad. As in being dead bad. And I don't like dead. Dead reall--"  
  
"Sparks." Ghost snapped. Sparks baby blues looked over at the Asian male.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Are you going to stop us?" Ghost asked simply.  
  
"Well, no. I'm just giving my two cents--" Sparks started before he was cut off again.  
  
"Then shut up."  
  
Sparks looked flustered and aggravated, looking at Niobe for some kind of help. The Captain would have smirked if the situation wasn't so dire. She walked behind the Controller station and headed up the narrow corridor that led to the bridge of the Logos.  
  
"We're the closest vessel, right?." Niobe said, turning to speak to Sparks and Ghost over her shoulder. Sparks reluctantly nodded.  
  
"Yes, we re the lcosest vessel in this sector.." Sparks mumbled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his baggy, dark pants.  
  
The resolve in Niobe's slender face was apparent to both Ghost and Sparks, "We go and do what we can then. They need us."  
  
Ghost said nothing, but he didn't need to. He got up and walked past Niobe and onto the bridge, taking the Gunner seat. Sparks slapped his forehead in frustration, but knew it was rather futile to debate with Niobe when her mind was made-up. Niobe and Sparks stared eachother down for a moment before Sparks grumbled under his breath and looked away in resignation.  
  
"Aye, Captain." Sparks said with a sigh in his voice, giving Niobe an exaggerated salute. There was a flash of annoyance in the brown eyes of the Captain before she took her seat at the Pilot's station.  
  
"Can you transfer the co-ordinates to my station?" Niobe said into her small headset as she clicked it on her ear and strapped herself into her chair. She heard some murmuring from Sparks on the other end of the connection.  
  
"Ya...can't be exact because of the distortion...but...there ya go." Sparks said over the comm. Niobe looked down on her display, a small locator blip coming up on a map of the local sector. She calculated the best route to get there in her head. She started up the ignition sequence and glanced over at Ghost. He glanced back as he finished buckling in and gave a small, curt nod. Niobe returned her attention to the pilot controls.  
  
"Here we go." She whispered to herself. 


	3. Flights of Confusion

On Your Own  
  
Chapter 3: Flights Of Confusion  
  
Disclaimer: I have no relation to The Matrix franchise in any way, shape, or form  
  
--  
  
She had been forced to leave Maxus behind. There wasn't much of him to bring back anyways, a mess of bulleted-remains. Tray still had Maxus' blood on her petite little hands, staining the front of her red tank.  
  
With ease she soared between the rooftops of a few low level apartment buildings, running, constantly looking over her shoulder. Her heart was making a horrid racket in her ear and her lungs were soar. As she ran, Tray mulled over the past few hours within her head. Her team had been tracking a young man.suddenly they lost contact with the Prometheus, they were ambushed. What had happenned to the Prometheus? Something must have.  
  
Tray ducked into a nearby Utility room on the top of an apartment complex. She slammed the door behind her and sat down, her back against the wall. She was alive, and she suspected Raven was alive as well, but somewhere uptown. The entire jacked-in team..gone..split second. Faye had suddenly collapsed, siezured, Maxus had been shot infront her eyes during the ambush. Someone had known where they were. Someone had gotten to them in the Matrix and had gotten the ship.  
  
"What the fuck is going on.." Tray muttered to herself in the darkness, surprised by the scared tremour in her own voice.  
  
--  
  
The ride had been quiet except for the needed ship talk between the tree crew members. The situation at hand was beginning to seem more and more dire with every kilometer closer the Logos came to the last known co- ordinates of the Prometheus. The tension wasn't obvious on first glance, but Ghost recognized the signs. Niobe's facial muscles were tensing, the smooth line of her jaw shifting slightly as her teeth gritted a little.  
  
"Nearly there.." Spark said over the intercom, voice a little edgy, jumpy. Niobe's facial expression didn't change.  
  
"I'm aware." She said flatly back, expertly weaving the small vessels through the narrow passages. They were getting into slightly remote territory. What had the Promeitheus being doing out here anyways?  
  
"What will we do when we find her?" host said in his deep voice, looking straight ahead. Another flinch in Niobe's jaw.  
  
"We'll just need to see when we get there." She answered back in the same flat tone, though a film of scared anticipation seeped through enough that Ghost gave her a sideways glance. He said nothing, however. He didn't need to. He returned his vision forward.  
  
Niobe's eyes narrowed a little, and she slowed the Logos down. Ghost tried to pinpoint what she was staring at. There was a small shudder in the hull as Niobe brought the ship to a full stop and landed her near an outcropping of rocks.  
  
"Jesus Christ." Ghost muttered to himself, eyes fixated on the same scene Niobe's were.  
  
"What? What's going on? Do you see it?" Spark called over the comm.  
  
"What's left of her." Niobe answered coldly.  
  
The hulking mass of the Prometheus layed upon it's side in the small cavern. Most of it's aft hull was gone, exposed to the tunnels. Burn and scorch marks riddled her entire surface, and with a keen enough eye, you could see the scattered remains of bodies that were flung from the ship. Niobe and Ghost were only mildly aware as Sparks came up to take a look with his own eyes.  
  
"Holy shit." Sparks croaked out. "That's a..big hole."  
  
"That it is. And a big something else would have had to make it." Niobe said, tearing her eyes from the wreckage and turning the pilots chair around. Sparks shook his head vigourously and groaned.  
  
"I KNEW this was a bad idea. Whatever made that gaping hole could turn the Logos into scrap. And us into biological mush." Sparks said, pointing out the front window at the twisted rements of the Hovership.  
  
"Sparks.." Ghost warned, turning in his chair to face the Controller.  
  
"No, look!" Sparks cut in, jabbing his finger at the window, "Helping is all well and good! But what good will it do if we die too? ZIP. We should get bigger guns here."  
  
"There are no bigger guns around." Niobe snapped, turning to face Sparks, "We are the guns. We're near the middle of nowhere and as such no one else is within miles of here. That crew died for something. I'm going to find out what that something is."  
  
Sparks went to protest, but Niobe narrowed her eyes, giving a glare she had perfected through her hard years of serving Zion. Sparks put both his hands in the air in a sign of resignation and walked past the shorter female.  
  
"We should see if there are any survivors." Ghost stated, still in his seated posistion. Niobe looked down for a moment and nodded, arms crossing around her slender frame, her hands hidden in the long, oversized sweater. She looked so frail in her stature, but her eyes easily showed a burning power and determination.  
  
"You stay here, Ghost. I'll take Sparks over and lok for Survivors, or see if we can get anything from the computer systems. Sensor information, logs." Niobe said softly, letting her arms go back to her sides, "I want to know the second anything hostile shows up on your screens. Sparks is right about one things, this place is dangerous."  
  
Ghost nodded his understanding. Niobe turned and walked out of the Navigation/bridge to find Sparks seated in his chair, tapping at key's nervously. She grabbed a small tool kit from a locker and looked over at Sparks.  
  
"Grab your stuff. Recon mission." Niobe said, not looking at him, as to not give him a chance to protest. Sparks looked up, eyes blantly showing his discontent. He got up and grabbed his own toolkit and walked up beside Niobe as she opened the hatch. 


End file.
